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The Queen's Chair: Why Is Everything Bad Associated with The Color Black?

Marsha Jones · Friday, November 20th 2009 at 5:12PM · 301 views
Think about it. Black mail, Black Monday, and Black Plague to name a few. In Cowboy Western movies, the bad guys always wear the color black.

My question is the title of a poem that I wrote during my college years, but I put a spin on it. My spin was that good guys are black. I cited the man who wrote the book, Three Muskeeters, the man that invented the cotton gin, the man who created the traffic light, the man who created the blood bank, and at the time, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. My poem was a tribute to his hard work and the creation of a holiday in his honor.

Today, I would have to update my poem to include President Barack Obama, maybe golfer Tiger Woods, definitely filmmaker Tyler Perry, and basketball legend Michael "Air" Jordan. I'd have to include the names of some black women like the Williams Sisters (Serena and Venus), Daytime Talkshow Queen and Mogul Oprah Winfrey, WNBA player Lisa Leslie, and Presidential Poet Maya Angelou, how black music and culture have been stolen, accepted, and mainstreamed into our present day culture. How "black" is now thought as of a "cool" color to wear and its "sliming" powers on the people that wear it.

The spin on black has become. Like a friend of mine said, "black don't crack." Slogans like "fear of a black planet", "black is beautiful", "black by popular demand" and "five on the black hand side" still resonate in some homes and streets.

Some try to denounce the color and others bad mouth it...beware.

The grim reaper may wear black. And black clouds always indicate heavy thunder or rain storms. The color black may get a bad rap. Some feel the color is inferior. Others view it as a warning side of bad news or events. The color "red" gets that rap, too. No one in business wants to be "in the red" with their books. Hospitals also hate when they are in a "code red" situation.

People can say what the want about the color "black." I think the kaleidscope shades of "brown" look wonderful on my people.

About the Author

Marsha Jones Rochester, NY

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Comments (6)

Abe Morris Friday, November 20th 2009 at 5:52PM

Marsha, I've been black all of my life and a cowboy for most of it. But most people will agree that I'm a good guy. Just another one of my 'smart alec' comments, but I couldn't resist.

Harry Watley Saturday, November 21st 2009 at 2:02AM

Greetings Ms. Marsha Jones,

You asked, “Why is everything bad associated with the color Black.”

The answer to this question measures how ignorant my people, Black Americans who are descendents of slaves are. Psychologically you are associating your self as a Black woman to the expression blackmail, black plague and so on, which has nothing to do with your ethnicity. I believe that you have a mental problem distinguishing what one thing means from what something else means.

Lastly, I wrote a blog concerning Black America’s lack of intelligence. I said that intelligence is not one of Black America’s disciplines.

Ms. Marsha because the cowboys that were bandits wore black has nothing to do with your ethnicity as a Black woman. Likewise, the cowboys that wore white had nothing to do with Caucasian or White people. You are just being paranoid.

Please pull yourself together, mentally speaking. Your argument is silly and moot.

What say you?

Marsha Jones Sunday, November 22nd 2009 at 7:19AM

I would say that I disagree. I'm not being paranoid at all, dear. I was just noting that certain colors get a bad rap. I was sharing an observation that I made during my college years. Like Arsenio Hall, you to say just something that makes you go hmmmmmmm?

Marsha Jones Sunday, November 22nd 2009 at 7:20AM

Abe:
Finally you posted a comment. I would have to agree because in my poem, I state that good guys are black.

Harry Watley Sunday, November 22nd 2009 at 8:38AM

Hello Ms. Marsha,

You said this, “I would say that I disagree. I'm not being paranoid at all, dear.”

Not wanting to admit you are being paranoid shows you have a psychologically healthy mind, since no one ever really wants to admit when he or she is wrong. However, having the intelligent capacity to understand and admit when you all wrong enable you to become a stronger and progressive person.

I said that you were being paranoid because you associated your ethnicity (Black) to expressions describing things that has the word black as a prefix such as blackmail and Black plague, which has nothing to do with your ethnicity. I know that I am right about you being paranoid since you turn right around in your second sentence and you said this, “I was just noting that certain colors get a bad rap.” Now, obviously the act of blackmail could not be getting a bad rap since that is the name of a criminal act. Incidentally, what bad rap does the color orange, red or green gets? Black plague could not be getting a bad rap either since that disease wiped out a third of Europe’s population before it was brought under control. Again, these things have nothing to do with your ethnicity as a Black woman.

I will leave it at that and comment no more on this matter. My purpose was to align your thinking to make it better than how I found it.

Okay.


Marsha Jones Sunday, November 22nd 2009 at 10:01AM

Harry:
Since you said you would leave your last comment at that, I'll take your word. My mind operates just find.
As far as your color question is concerned, out of the three colors you mentioned, green has the best rap. Green is about cash and usually lots of it. The only time it gets a bad "rap" is when people turn green because they are jealous or envious. Red is associated with "anger", "emergency situations that involved blood or trauma" or as being "too loud." And orange, frankly doesn't have that much baggage that goes with it.

The point of blog had to do with creativity. I have a creative mind and it just occurred to me in a poem that the color "black" gets a bad rap. Probably the worst as far as colors are concerned.

If you checked out my other blogs, you would have known I have NO problem with my ethnicity. I'm proud to be a woman of Caribbean descent. Being a black mother, daughter, sister, writer, teaching artist, journalist, blogger, cultural critic, and author, I know my TRUE worth.

As far as this blog is concerned, you are just reading way too much into it.

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